Masculinity stereotypes in “The Terminator”

Movies and shows made a big influence on the perception of masculinity in our society. “The Terminator” – a film by David Cameron released in 1984 – made a huge influence on the perception of masculinity among young boys and adolescents. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time with a mission: to find and kill a specific person. He was taken as a male sex symbol at his time and gained huge admiration among the male community. Men admired him because, according to the masculine ideals, he is perfect: he is strong and muscular, and the fact that he often appears shirtless is used to enhance his physical traits commonly identified as masculine. He carries guns and arms; he tends to create an impression of violence and dominance. He is always ready to fight and engages in combat without doubt, and is confident in himself and his strength. He is described by David Cameron as an “invulnerable fighting machine”. Because of our society’s dictated standards on how real men should look like and behave, the terminator was perceived as an ideal because he adhered to all of them. This justifies the fact that the film became a cult movie, especially popular among the male population. This image of an ideal man enforces the harmful stereotypes on masculinity, and creates more pressure on the male population to become similar to their idols. Young boys watch the movie and dream to become like the Terminator, and it creates a vicious cycle of harmful ideals which are used to hide the true self of men. Kimmel writes in his essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” about the perception of supreme masculinity as being the complete opposite of femininity. The terminator is a character which illustrates Kimmel’s statement, as he was made in such a way to avoid to the maximum all the traits associated with femininity. The exclusion of feminine traits in the masculinity culture promotes harmful consequences on women. Women are considered lower than men and because of that, are treated poorly. To conclude, “The Terminator” is a movie that played a huge influence on the society’s perception of stereotypical masculinity and provided the male community with another harmful example to follow.